The Power of Prayer

The last couple of weeks have been pretty crazy for us ... health-wise. Jonathan started with a little cold towards the end of October and ... it has been a roller coaster for him ever since. For the first week of it, just like usual, he was taking dayquil and nyquil. When that didn't seem to help, we decided he needed to go to the doctor November 1st ... so he went that Monday and they gave him some kind of cough medicine and told him to take Mucinex. Well ... he did that for a few days and then that Thursday morning he jumped out of bed CHOKING on his cough/throw up. IT WAS THE SCARIEST THING!! All I could do was pray ... and call 911 all at the same time! At first when he jumped up, I just thought he had to cough really bad and deep but ... then he stopped coughing and couldn't get any air up or down or through or anything ........ so I immediately started panicking and asked him "do I need to call 911?" - he shook his head yes ........ at the same time, I tried to get behind him and do the heimlich (b/c I didn't know what else to do!!) - but he pushed me off of him .......... and ended up sticking his hand down his throat and was able to get a little air (PRAISE THE GOOD LORD!) So ... the fire truck got there first and the first one in our house was a Cary fireman ... he said "where's my boy at? is he ok?" Thank goodness for Wilson's Mills volunteers! At that point, he was "ok". Ok, meaning that he was at least breathing. He didn't want to go to the hospital because he was fine at this point but we knew he had to go back to the doctor. So I called and got an appt for that morning. Well ... the doctor spent maybe 5 minutes altogether with us and ... needless to say, we were a little frustrated. She prescribed him a z-pack and told him to call back in a few days if he wasn't better. Well ... every single morning/day after that he had one of those attacks again. Coughing to the point of throwing up, but not able to pass air through at the same time. So ... Tuesday morning we called back again and she prescribed him another cough medicine. He took that all afternoon Tuesday and through the night and he woke up Wednesday morning and didn't have an attack ... THANK THE LORD! ........... and he went all day, just laying on the couch and resting so we thought he was getting better. So that afternoon, we were both standing in the kitchen, kinda playing around with each other and being silly (getting ready to start cooking supper), and all of a sudden he went into one of those attacks again - scared me to death!!!!!!!!!! Soo we decided ... doctor's closed ... it's time to go to emergency room or urgent care. Well ... we headed to Knightdale to the urgent care and one of them was closed and the other one had an hour and a half wait and by the time we would be seen they'd be closing. Soo we decided to go get something to eat and we'd go back to the doctor in the morning. So I called as soon as the clock struck 8:00 the next morning to get a doctor's appointment. We went in to that same doctor and ... she took a few more minutes with him because I think she realized it was a little more serious than what she was originally thinking. He actually had a miniature episode in front of her (which I was thankful for) so she could kinda see what he was talking about. She said it sounded like he had asthmatic bronchitis and she prescribed him Advair and an inhaler. Well .......... he tried that for a few days, but no such luck. He had an attack Friday morning, Saturday morning, and two on Sunday. Sunday night he even started throwing up food with it. He then got up at 2:00 in the morning Monday morning and had an attack then. Well ... we have been praying about this daily and for his health and just for answers ... but Sunday night after church activities, we went to the sanctuary and prayed ... God, put your healing hand upon my husband ... we TRUST YOU, we KNOW you are our ultimate PHYSICIAN and we love you. I know He has already been working in us and through us during this and we pray He continues to use us through this experience. God had already been revealing answers to us, through two friends/church members of ours/that had been nurses. One of them told him to take prednizone (which, I'll get to in a second, but has been a BLESSING for us!)The other one told us he needed to go to Dr. Hart ( a pulmonologist). So Monday morning I got up and called our doctor and the specialist (Dr. Hart). Dr. Hart didn't have an opening until FEBRUARY!! ... wowww can't wait THAT long. But our doctor told us to come in in the meantime to get a chest x-ray and they prescribed him prednizone ... by the grace of God, so far, in more than 24 hours ... he has not had an attack!!!!!!!!!! He has been coughing up his lungs still but ... not to the point of not breathing! HALLELUJAH!! Soo we are currently waiting on the results of that chest x-ray and will go from there. I KNOW God can perform miracles and I KNOW this is just another chance to draw closer to Him. HE IS OUR EVERYTHING. We thank HIM for every breath and ... pray that He continues to heal Jonathan. I'll keep you posted! But please PRAY! :) THERE IS POWER IN PRAYER!

Doctor's Appt at almost 23 weeks :)

We had a doctor's appointment on Friday, 11/5, and it was short and sweet. Thankfully, the doctor told me I'm "boring" and she likes boring - we do too! Because all she had to do was take my blood pressure (which was normal), measure my belly (which was right on with the measurements it should be), and listen to the baby's heartbeat (which was strong and ... wonderful!) He was moving around a lot again too :) But the funny part was ... my weight!! The first time I went to the doctor, after I found out I was pregnant, I was a certain weight - I consider that my starting weight. The next doctor's office visit I had lost 2 pounds (so I was thinking umm ... ?? why am I losing??) The next doctor's visit I had gained 4 (from my last doctor's visit - so I had gained two pounds in all, from my starting weight - which was good) ... but THIS TIME ... I had gained 10.7 pounds from my last doctor's visit - soo 12.7 pounds altogether!! The funny part was ... I had not even thought twice about my weight ... at all ... this whole time ... and then, of course, the first thing they tell you to do is go into the bathroom, get your weight and your urine sample. So I went in there and stepped on the scale first and I was soo flabber-gasted (in a good way) that I sat down on the toilet and completely forget to get the sample. OOPS!! The doctor told me that weight gain was completely normal - that I'd probably have two times during the pregnancy that I'd have big jumps in weight - but she said, and I quote, "I wouldn't suggest gaining 10 pounds EVERY 4 weeks" ... HAHAH. Well ... ok! So then I was eating at my mom's house on Sunday and she has a scale and I stepped on it and I had gained 3 more since Friday - this was TWO days after my doctor's appointment! Granted, I HAD just eaten two plates at lunch but still .......... :) hahah

I just think it's funny - especially b/c the holidays are coming up and ... (I LOVE my grandma's cooking at Thanksgiving and Christmas) ;) ... and I've always been a picky eater and was worried about not gaining enough weight - HA! thinking about another life inside of me & eating for two has caused me not to be so picky :) And I think this is a GREAT thing (gaining weight) - b/c that means I've got a healthy baby boy in there :)

Here are a few belly pics:


My belly at 23 weeks


20 weeks



My husband and the puppies taking belly pics for me (and them loving on him in the meantime ;) )